Personal Impressions from the Odyssey

The Odyssey Analysis and Personal Narrative

As Homer once said in The Odyssey, Even his griefs are a joy long after to one he remembers all that he has wrought and endured. Some people make changes look so easy, like everything they want is so instantaneous. It doesn't take them months to finally be noticed by somebody. They seem to move past what once was and move on to what is happening now without looking back. To me, nothing happened instantly. Just as Homer said, in order for your griefs to turn to joys, you have to endure many trials.

In June of 2017, I was happy with the life I was leading. My grades finishing my seventh-grade year were good, I had friends that were kind to me and everyone else, and I had a family that loved me. The little college town of Pullman in Washington had been my home for a long time. It was a place where friendships had been growing for nine years. I had been going to school there for nine years. It was the place I got baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was a place where I turned twelve and entered young women, and my sister before me. It was a place my sister graduated high school, and my brother entered high school. For nine years, it was a place that, to me, truly felt like home. I felt like I belonged.

That very same month a job located in Brigham City, Utah was pulled up on a Google Search, not the typical place that one would find a job for a surgeon. Within days it seemed that everything was falling into place. Brigham City happened to be the town my dad grew up in and his years of practice in the medical field seemed to be favored over those that had just come out of medical school. All of these events transpired while my two siblings were at trek. When they returned home, the entire family sat down in the living room. I knew what was happening, but my siblings had no idea that we were about to have the we may be leaving our home and friends forever talk. The decision to move was really up to us as kids. My sister was fine, as she was heading to college that fall and was already planning on leaving home anyway. I was already planning on moving at some point during my high school years and was excited to move and to have a new adventure, so I was already on board. My brother, going into Junior year, did not want to leave then, but he decided that, when the time came, he would be ready to leave and head off on a new adventure.

In The Odyssey, the first threshold that Odysseus had to cross after the war was the encounter with the Cyclops. Just like all of the thresholds or trials that I had to pass in order to get to where I am in my life at this moment, Odysseus had many trials that he overcame during his time at the Cyclops' cave. In line 537 Polyphemus says Let him lose all companions, and return under strange sail to bitter days at home. This signals the end of his encounter with the Cyclops, but just like me and my journey through the move, my trials did not end when we moved. Several months passed, each one getting closer and closer to the day we would have to leave. The move would take place soon after the school year ended, allowing us time to say goodbye to friends and jump into the new school year at a new school.

Around December, our realtor took walks through our house to give us estimates and my photography-loving sister took the pictures to be posted when we listed our house. Then, later in December, we got a call from the very realtor who was going to list our house saying that he wanted to buy our house, but that required us to move in March. This call to adventure excited me. I wanted a fresh start at a new school to make some more friends. Yes, I would be saying goodbye to all of my friends in Pullman, but it wouldn't be forever. The moving date moved to February to start the new trimester at the new school, and soon enough, the last day of school arrived. During lunch, all of my friends threw a surprise goodbye party for me, following a surprise party that had been thrown for me a few days before. My classes consisted of no work, as I wouldn't be there to follow it up. My locker was decorated for me, an occurrence that rarely happened to me in the first place as my birthday takes place in the summertime and lockers are only ever decorated on birthdays by my friends. I left for Utah the next day, one day earlier than expected, to meet our moving truck at our new house.

The next step of my journey felt different from the journey Odysseus had to endure while he was approaching his home and overcoming trials during it as he sailed the seas. During this time, Odysseus had companions that always would follow his orders and support him, as it shows in lines 783 to 785 when it says I tried to say 'Untie me!' to the crew, jerking my brows, but they bent steady to their oars. They followed what he told them to do during this period of danger. I felt like I had no one for months, even when there were sometimes people there, because no one made an effort to help me. March sixth was the first day of my new school. At my middle school in Pullman, every new student had a nice friend that was assigned to them until they found where they wanted to be, so I expected the same from Box Elder Middle School.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. I went to school and went to every class knowing nobody. There was no automatic friend for me. I felt alone. After a few days of being alone all day long with so-so days at school when I usually love to learn, I decided that I needed to make a change. I didn't want to keep sitting at a lunch table with girls that cared more about SnapChat or Instagram than me, and I didn't want to be one of those people that hates school because that's not who I usually am. If I have to change who I am to find friends, then they aren't my true friends. The bell rang for lunch and I scoped out every table in the cafeteria. I saw two girls sitting at a table not looking at their phones, and I knew that maybe it was stereotypical, but they were wearing glasses and I wanted friends that cared about their grades. I slowly approached their table and asked to sit there. They talked with me instead of looking at their phones and for once I was starting to feel happy. I sat at that same table for the rest of the year.

That summer was the hardest time for me. I finally felt like I had some friends but, although they were extremely nice, it wasn't like any of the relationships I had with my friends in Pullman. I never really saw these friends in the summer. I spent nearly all of my summer stuck in my basement reading and writing books or upstairs playing the piano. The few vacations I went on I felt insecure because no one seemed to want to be friends with me at school and didn't even care whether I was there or not. I cried to myself because I didn't have friends. Not really. Just like me, Odysseus in the story of Calypso cries to himself every single day. He's endured so many trials but has been held back from his friends and family for seven years. Lines 73-74 say: with eyes wet scanning the bare horizon of the sea. During those few months, I almost felt like Odysseus. I was on an island with no one else but my grief. I was away from the friends that I had grown so close to, separated by a distance of 985 miles.

I started the school year of my freshman year much like I had started the previous trimester in eighth grade: knowing nobody in my classes. Walking in and sitting at a random seat and hoping that whoever sat next to me--if anyone would sit next to me-would be someone nice and friendly. I made it through the first bit of the day, so far happy with my classes but unsure if I would have a lot of friends in the rest. I walked in the lunchroom, circled around and saw nobody. Tears sprang to my eyes. I had to face the truth: this school year would be no better than the last. I nearly walked outside to cry and call my mom, but I had four more tables to search. At the final table, I found one friend that had sat at my table the year before. Relief filled me as I sat next to her.

Over the next couple weeks, a new lunch table formed. Some were people I knew and some were those I wanted to know. But for once, I finally felt happy. I found some people that I knew in my classes, and for those I didn't know, I tried to be friendly. In The Odyssey when Odysseus has his encounter with Calypso, one of the things he didn't do when he was so close to home but that I made a sincere effort to do was really try. Line 83 says ...he lay with her each night, for she compelled him. Every night for seven years he did the same thing over and over again even though he wanted change. I have learned through my journey of the move that there will be trials you have to overcome, but if you truly want a change, then you have to make it. For Odysseus, it took seven years for that change to come along, but it doesn't appear that he truly made an effort. I took risks, I went outside of my comfort zone, but now I feel happy. I made sacrifices of my own personal desires and made a sincere effort to get to know others so that I could be happier.

I will never return to Pullman to live there, but I'm beginning to be okay with it. There have been days that have been honestly hard since I moved here, but I can be happy with my choices because I have stayed true to myself during it. One of the things that I hate about moving is that everyone seems to change who they are during that process. Through the hard work and trials I have endured, I have changed. But at this point, I can proudly say that I have changed for the better.

Works Cited

Homer. The Odyssey. 8th Century BC.

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